GUS has said it will save around 80 of the 140 jobs at breathe.com’s London and Warrington offices. The deal includes the assets and technology of breathe, but not its debts.
GUS chief executive John Peace said of the acquisition:
"We are very pleased to have the opportunity to use the information and technology we have acquired with breathe.com. The company has been very advanced in developing multi-device access to the internet, with ease of use the top priority."
In a statement, the company added, “breathe.com is attractive to GUS because of its substantial expertise and technology in enabling multi-device access to the internet, using PCs, WAP phones and other devices."
In the nine months to 30 September 2000, breathe generated sales of £1.4m, predominantly from advertising revenue and commissions. GUS expects breathe to incur losses of between £4m and £7m in its next financial year.
Meanwhile, rival UK retailer Kingfisher yesterday sold its stake in Liberty Surf, the troubled French ISP, to the leading Italian ISP Tiscali. Last year, Tiscali bought the Dutch ISP World Online. As a result of these deals, Tiscali will now have almost 5 million European users,
The total value of Tiscali’s acquisition of Liberty Surf is £408.5 million. Kingfisher is expected to receive around £145 million in cash and shares from the sale of its stake in Liberty Surf.